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We are unequivocally supporting the efforts by the association Unser Finowkanal to secure the future of this important heritage waterway, bypassed by the modern Havel-Oder Waterway.

The Federal Government has declared its intention to close the canal for navigation, convert the locks into weirs and maintain the channel exclusively for drainage.

The only way to avoid this scenario is to secure funding for the considerable investment of €75 million, to cover all costs, particularly to restore the locks. To date, all the locks have been operated each season, using unemployed from the local job centre (and two voluntary lock-keepers), but some repairs have become too urgent, and there is at present no authority nor any funding in place to implement them.

A boat rally celebrates the opening of the Finow Canal for the 2015 season. The association Unser Finowkanal continues its campaign for maintenance and regular operation of the canal, which the Federal waterway authority wishes to hand over to the region.

If one of the 12 historic locks fails, the canal will no longer be available as a through route, and the direct and indirect economic benefits of waterway tourism will be lost to the Eberswalde/Niederfinow region.

The municipalities of the Finowkanal region are under pressure to make a decision by January 2016, for or against their share in the necessary investment, and the issue is being firecely debated. On December 17, the Eberswalde council – with the biggest share in the project – will cast its vote. Only if all the local councils vote in favour of the canal investment will it become feasible to set up a public body to take over operation of the canal.

Investors need to be certain that the future of the canal is guaranteed, Under Federal government ownership, there are no opportunities for commercial activities at the locks or along the banks, volunteer lock-keepers are refused, and the risk of failure of the locks continues to hamper any development.

But regional decision-makers are procrastinating, and most of the officials in the Finow Canal regional working group are keeping a low profile, for fear of being held responsible for the failure to take over the canal.

Some councils are leaning towards rejection of the takeover because of the lack of evidence of the benefits that tourism could bring to the region, justifying their entrenched resistance to change.

Unser Finowkanal president Hartmut Ginnow-Merkert has made a plea for support: if you feel it is important to maintain continuous navigability of the Finow canal, comment here!

Waterway managers from throughout Europe travelled across the English Channel a few weeks ago for a special visit to see cutting edge technology in action on the UK’s canals.
The guests joined the Canal & River Trust – the charity that takes care of 3200 km of waterways across England and Wales – for two days.

The visit included a trip to see the project that will allow remote operation of a bridge on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal.

Another visit was made to the Grand Union Canal at Hatton to see the new waterway control centre, which houses technology to help manage the Trust’s fleet of workboats and vehicles, issue work notices and schedules to staff and monitor incidents and emergencies.

CRT’s EU Numericanal partners see how the new control centre at Hatton facilitates deployment and repairs over a hundreds of kilometres of canals

Delegates included waterway managers, technicians and experts from the Netherlands, France and Belgium. They were brought together through the EU-funded Numericanal project, which looks at best practice across Europe of using technology to better run the waterways. Representatives from Scottish Canals and the pan-European boating group The Barge Association (DBA) were also present.

Steve Higham, European funding manager at the Canal & River Trust, said: ‘We were really pleased to welcome experts from all across Europe to see the work that we’ve done, and it’s encouraging to be leading the way when it comes to canal technology. Ultimately this is all about how we can work together across Europe to find the best ways of managing the waterways, and it’s great to have so many partners bringing a huge range of experience to the table.’

‘Numericanal’ is a €3.3 million project funded by Interreg NWE, that aims to use technology to enable more efficient management of inland waterways.

Czech president Milos Zeman will be at the European Parliament building in Strasbourg on 26 February 2014, to lobby for inclusion of the Danube-Oder-Elbe water corridors in Europe’s ‘core corridor network’ for transport infrastructure investments.

Ostrava-based MEP Vojtech Mynar has invited interested parties to a round table with experts on the Danube-Oder-Elbe Water Corridor in the ‘Swan Bar’ gallery of the European Parliament building at 16:00. The meeting is aimed mainly at MEPs from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. A parallel exhibition on the 100-year-old project will be on display at the venue throughout the week.

The Czech organisers, who have already established close collaboration with Poland for the Oder branch, observe that the newly adopted priorities of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) do not include the international project for the Danube-Oder-Elbe Waterways (called ‘water corridors’ to highlight the non-navigation functions of water management), despite the significant contribution these waterways could make to meeting the EU’s objectives in reduction of road transport, emissions and job creation.

To take this project into consideration, the European Commission has already advised the Czech Government that it needs to have a relevant feasibility study and statements of the Member States concerned. The aim of this event is to discuss preparation of the project with politicians and experts, and to conclude with a common statement.

NOTE to editors: IWI has already supported the D-O-E water corridor project by writing to the then President Jan Fischer on 14/07/10, as well as to key ministers, before a critical vote in the parliament. If the motion had been carried, the land reserved for these waterways could have been sold off, making it virtually impossible to build the links at any future date.

Invitation to opening of the exhibition organised by Czech MEP Vojtech Mynar in the EP building in Strasbourg

N.B. Entry to the European Parliament building in Strasbourg for this event is restricted to invitees.

A sense of urgency permeates the air in Lombardy as well as in neighbouring Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Veneto regions, regarding Italy’s network of navigable canals and rivers. What reality will be revealed to the world of inland waterway specialists and advocates, meeting in Milan on September 1st for the 27th World Canals Conference? It is a reality of water conveyors and waterways, in places going their separate ways, but often combined within the same bed. Waterway cross-roads, intakes, siphons, spillways, aqueducts are the nodes of an intricate network spun across the Lombardy plain, and nothing is simple. Even Italy’s second biggest Alpine lake, Lago Maggiore, is used as a reservoir and drawn down by as much as 1.50m to secure irrigation water supplies during a dry summer.

The ambitious project to restore navigation between Lago Maggiore (Locarno) and the river Po is regularly covered by the regional and national Press. This article focuses on work to start soon on a new lock at Porto della Torre, on the Piedmont bank of the Ticino

It is nearly 20 years since IWI’s founders attended a conference in Milan on the ‘civilisation of water and waterways’ and the heritage left by Leonardo da Vinci and other great Italian engineers. At that time a grouping of Rotary clubs in the Adda valley was actively promoting restoration of the locks on the Adda as well as the Naviglio di Paderno (followed by the Martesana towards Milan). The campaign sadly lost momentum after the president Mario Roveda died of a heart attack in 1997, but IWI, represented in Italy by industrial archeology expert Edo Bricchetti, has constantly been supporting the regional initiatives in favour of a navigable system serving ‘slow’ tourism and appreciation of the extraordinary heritage and environment of the canal corridors.

Navigli Lombardi was founded to drive these efforts, but does not manage the canals themselves; that is the prerogative of the Consorzio Villoresi, which has the concession from the Region to manage the water resource and supply the many needs of agriculture, industry and the population. This means that the ‘water conveyor’ function has priority here, in the same way as it has priority on another famous southern European canal, the Canal de Castilla in Spain.

Despite this priority, politicians in Milan and across the plain, including the neighbouring regions, are massively in favour of restoring and adapting the 1000-year legacy of canals and controlled rivers, to make navigation once again a regular form of mobility in both urban and rural areas.

This spillway in Turbigo is only one part of a complex junction between the ‘industrial canal’ and the Naviglio Grande

Achieving this goal means compromises and concessions. As climate change increases the pressure on water resources, it is likely to become increasingly difficult to obtain management of water channels that is compatible with navigability, even by professional helmsmen. Another difficulty faced by all players in Lombardy is a certain degree of confusion in the minds of Milanese citizens, possibly even some planners and architects, between water conveyors and waterways. This is only the briefest of introductions to a fascinating story that will be told here in the coming days and weeks… background notes for the discussions during the World Canals Conference and the pre- and post-conference tours. (to be continued)David Edwards-May

Glenn Millar, economic development manager at the Canal and River Trust

Inland Waterways International as a body and its members as individuals were saddened to hear that Glenn Millar, friend and supporter of inland waterways, passed away in September 2013 after a long illness. Glenn was the economic development manager at the Canal and River Trust (formerly British Waterways), and enthusiastic leader of European cooperation projects on inland waterways. He kept working until 2012 and the successful conclusion of two recent EU-funded waterway projects ‘Waterways Forward’ (Interreg IVC) and ‘Waterways for Growth’ (Interreg IVB, in the North Sea Region).

Glenn, from Northern Ireland, was an ambassador for the waterways and was made Canelero de Honor by Spain in 2006, the same year he was chosen to present a model narrow boat to Mary McAleese, President of Ireland. His networks were prodigious and relationships lasted long beyond the project or committee where they were originally formed. People valued Glenn’s insight but also valued his company and friendship

The portrait reproduced here, by courtesy of the website BoatingBusiness.com, was named ‘Europe Comes Together’; that is a fitting tribute to Glenn’s vision and achievements.

A tribute has also been printed in the new (4th) edition of the European Waterways Map and Directory, published by Euromapping, which is dedicated to his memory.

The saga of the Canadian Heritage canals managed by Parks Canada grinds on. In the early New Year Parks Canada introduced a new fee schedule for using the locks on its three major historic canals; the Rideau, The Trent Severn Waterway and the Quebec Canals.

Not only was Parks Canada proposing a whole new way of charging for the service offered, but also increasing these fees substantially. So for a boater, the cost to use the locks and moor increased well beyond any form of a reasonable increase. This was fuelled by the earlier changes to the navigation season service offer (see earlier posts). That exercise left many boaters, business people, communities, tour and rental boat companies and users very angry. The Government did keep its promise not to reduce the length of the season (see overly optimistic announcement posted hereOctober 23, 2012) however, the devil was in the details, and as it turned out they reduced very substantially the hours of service within the season, the amount or degree of service in the shoulder seasons and reduced operating staff substantially.

So, then in the New Year out came a new fee schedule and format, which caused a firestorm of reaction along the canal corridors. It was so intense that within a couple of days Parks Canada started to make changes most likely in response to the number and intensity of comments they were hearing from the public. Since that time and well before the final date for comments, they have made further changes to their proposals in trying to deal with the shortcomings of the original plan. However, even with these changes the fee rate is increasing substantially. Most users were willing to see rates increase, but something within reason and based on some type of a business case which has not been forthcoming after many requests.

What is sad is the impact it has had on Parks Canada’s credibility as an organization that knew how to operate canals and understood their importance from a cultural, natural or economic perspective. However, the accumulative impact of the changes for lockage fees plus the reduction of service level will without a doubt diminish the use and opportunities which in turn puts more pressure on the increased revenues versus costs ratio that the government seems to be demanding of Parks Canada. It misses the point and doesn’t take into account that these heritage waterways are economic drivers for their communities and they contribute substantially to the GDP of the country. As an example; the Parks Canada Economic Impact Study of the Rideau Canal 2010/2011 determined that the $10.5 million spent on the Rideau, generated $44.4 million to the GDP and supported 641 full time equivalent jobs, and this was only visits to lock stations. It didn’t include the people who visit resorts, restaurants, stores, marinas, museums, etc. that are prevalent up and down the corridor.

So, there are still many unanswered questions. What will the final fee schedule be for the coming navigation season? What will the fall out be on visitation and use of the canal at a time when the government is pushing for economic initiatives to keep the economy healthy? What will the cultural and natural heritage impacts be for these canals after major changes in how they are organized when the number of specialists in these fields has been greatly reduced and are not necessarily on site? Will the water management function have the capability, knowledge and experience to meet the demand and intricacies of the operation and not seriously jeopardize public safety and is it sustainable? Will all of these changes work over the long haul or will public safety, the heritage values and canal use be in jeopardy? Sadly only time will tell and by then it may be too late!!

VNF’s summary report on its activities in 2012 devotes one of its 10 chapters to the tree-replanting programme and corporate patronage approach to funding the €200 million restoration of the Canal du Midi’s characteristic landscape.

VNF has a logo which keeps the old, enriching it with evocative graphics by Philippe Apeloig

VNF reports (in its New Year press release) that it felled 1668 plane-trees condemned by canker stain in 2012, and replanted 68: the uninformed reader immediately sees a ‘deficit’ of 1600 trees. This sad statistic, however inevitable in view of the experimental nature of the first replanting operations, is like a wake-up call. The tree-felling and replanting debate – and the questions surrounding the should not become an excuse for inaction in other areas.
This is one of many concerns expressed by the Toulouse Waterway Information Network, a grouping of waterway interests in SW France. The network (Réseau Fluvial Toulousain) is challenging local and regional politicians to come up with a robust and workable plan to develop the waterway economy. It is convinced that France in general – and in this case SW France – possesses unique skills, resources and capability to make the canal economy more vibrant, and create more jobs, generate more income.
They say this is what the World Canals Conference* should be all about, and call for a debate to be held in the context of this international conference, a debate which should leave no stone unturned in the search for viable management models and economic development for our canals and rivers.
A properly-planned future for the Canal des Deux Mers should be an issue in the 2014 municipal elections, and the réseau hopes that candidates will state their positions in their manifestos.
* Salons Vanel, Toulouse, 16-19 septembre 2013 – see the WCC web site

Claudio Repossi of Navigli Lombardi reports on a series of events to raise awareness of the historic, cultural and recreational values of the Locarno (Switzerland) to Milan waterway via the river Ticino.

As part of the joint Italian-Swiss project Intrecci sull’acqua – or Dialogue on the Water – a series of initiatives have been launched, including guided tours of the area and pleasure boating on Lago Maggiore (Verbano), along what is known as the ancient ‘Marble Route’.
(supplying marble for the construction of Milan’s cathedral).

Events planned for the weekends of July, August and September were organised thanks to an agreement between the municipalities involved, the Lombardy Region, the Province of Novara and Navigli Lombardi, the last of which has been active for years with its passenger boat service on the Ticino running between Sesto Calende and the Miorina Barrage (and former lock).

The project includes navigation on the Ticino and on the Lake, partially covering the route taken of old by the barges that carried the precious construction material along the lake-river-canal waterway to Milan.

Today the former waterway is no longer navigable throughout, but great efforts are being made, at a time of crisis in public finances, to reopen it. Miorina lock on the Ticino has recently been restored to working order, and the Panperduto dam, machine hall and adjacent lock are also being rehabilitated. Begun in 2011, the works are financed by Lombardy Region, Consorzio Villoresi, Navigli Lombardi and the electricity utility ENEL, and are to be completed in 2013. Piedmont Region for its part is gathering the funds necessary for the restoration of the Porto della Torre barrage.

Once the works to restore the hydraulic structures on the Ticino are finished, it will be possible to navigate from Lago Maggiore to the start of the Industrial Canal, with four locks to restore as the last obstacle before the final link-up with the Naviglio Grande and Milan. The Naviglio Grande is already navigable from Turbigo to Cuggiono, albeit with some size limits.

With Expo 2015 in view, an accord for an integrated plan for maintenance of the infrastructure of Milan’s canals and for the valorization of the Navigli and Lombardy waterways as an asset to tourism, the environment and culture, was promoted in May this year by the Lombardy Region, Consorzio Villoresi and Navigli Lombardi. Also involved are the Park management bodies for the Adda Nord Park, the Ticino Park, and the South Milan Agricultural Park. The programme, requiring an investment of around €20million for works to be carried out by June 2015, proposes substantial repairs to the banks of the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Martesana. It has among its primary objectives the promotion of a Leonardo da Vinci cultural tourism trail along the Lombardy waterways where he experimented successfully with some of the most brilliant hydraulic inventions: the lock flight, the Da Vinci lock and its characteristic stepped upper sill. It also aims to promote the ‘Feed the Planet’ programme, principal theme of the 2015 Milan Expo.

The British Government placed 2000 miles of canals and rivers in trust for the nation, as the new charity, the Canal & River Trust, was launched on July 12. The trust takes over responsibility for the canals of England and Wales from British Waterways, 50 years after the British Waterways Board was founded in 1962.

Canal & River Trust logo compared to the British Waterways logo used since 1981

The change in governance had been planned for several years, as reported in IWI’s publications. The logo neatly adapts the traditional BW humped-back bridge, which had been the public corporation’s logo since 1981. The swan represents the environmental quality and values of the waterways more dynamically and actively than the reeds.

The focus in launching the charity is on the 10 million ‘users and lovers of the canals’ who will have an opportunity to play a greater role in securing their future, through the Trust. The Trust’s first patron is HRH The Prince of Wales, who recorded a welcome speech on June 12. Poet Ian McMillan also wrote an evocative poem for the occasion, ‘Canal Life‘, suggesting that canals hang in that place between memories and water.

Half the population of the UK lives within five miles of a Canal & River Trust waterway. The system has 1569 locks.

The sober statement on the British Waterways web page says that the corporation ceased to exist in England and Wales on July 2. In Scotland British Waterways continues to exist as a legal entity caring for the canals under the trading name ‘Scottish Canals‘.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a UNESCO World Heritage site, at a son et lumière celebration on July 12. The event celebrated creation of the CRT and the 3rd anniversary of listing of the site (shared by Rachel Allen)

Dave Ballinger reports on the changes that are taking place on Canada’s historic canals.

Parks Canada enjoyed a well deserved reputation in the world as an excellent operator, manager and guardian of Canada’s historic canals. However that is about to change. As part of the incumbent government’s deficit cutting program, Parks Canada seems to have an agenda when it comes to the canals under its responsibility. In the last few days many staff have been told who is surplus to the organization. Many of the positions identified are positions that one would consider as important or key to fulfilling the mandate, including water control and resource protection, to name just a couple.

It is understood that there will be one Superintendent for the two canals in Ontario who will be located in Peterborough. There appears to be joining of various functions and they will be located on either the Trent-Severn Waterway or on the Rideau. The question becomes very clearly: is this doable and if not, then what?

The main historic canals managed by Parks Canada in Ontario and Quebec (from Euromapping study for IWAC, UK)

As the information becomes available in ‘dribs and drabs’ it is difficult to get a good understanding on what the canals will look like into the future and what their roles and responsibilities will be with what is emerging as a new organization.

Parks Canada in the past has been relatively transparent when it has had to make changes. It was a model for doing public and employee consultation. However that is not the case this time. Severe changes to carrying out the mandate are being proposed and implemented, along with major changes to the organizational structure and way of operating including the announcement of the coming reduction in level of service. All of this has been done without any or minimum input. There have been limited public announcements from Parks Canada. The only announcement was by a Vice President through the media that there would be no consultation. This is certainly a new approach for this organization, which was a model in providing information and consulting in the past no matter how bad the news.

So what’s next? We know that at the end of August the lock operating and maintenance staff will be told about their jobs. Also we will find out what the level of service will be. So this sad saga is not over yet and as these changes are implemented one has to wonder and be concerned if any of these major organizational changes will also have any implications for things such as the World Heritage designation for the Rideau Canal in the longer term.